From an internationally recognized center dedicated to finding new ways to share the past and the present to researchers who examine our political landscape by studying political jokes on late night TV or meteorologists’ attitudes toward climate change, Mason scholars are analyzing how we are affected as a society by traditional and digital media.

The center's mission is to advance a sound and nuanced understanding of Muslim societies and the Islamic faith, its role in history, and its impact on current events through a global framework. The Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies supports research, interdisciplinary academic programs, and community outreach, as well as educational and research opportunities for students and faculty to develop 21st-century leaders with a sophisticated understanding of the complex dynamics that shape Muslim communities.

The Center’s mission is to conduct unbiased public engagement research - and to help government agencies, non-profit organizations, and companies apply the results of this research - to collectively stabilize the planet's life-sustaining climate.

The center draws on the expertise of scholars and industry professionals from across the country to research and design quality digital media products for diverse audiences. It works to provide access to quality educational media products for children of color, those who are economically challenged, first generation college students, and other diverse or traditionally underserved populations.

The center specializes in pursuing interdisciplinary advanced research, discoveries, and inventions that support exploration and analysis of human social phenomena. The center’s faculty members and graduate assistants use computer modeling and related techniques to explore and understand complex human social phenomena. One project uses spatial simulations to investigate the impact of disastrous events such as drought or epidemic on land and life in Africa’s Rift Valley. The implications of such studies are more than academic.

This multidisciplinary center draws on faculty from such areas as sociology, anthropology, public policy, psychology, and communication to bring their expertise to social, behavior, and political problems facing contemporary society. Research studies use a range of quantitative and qualitative methods, including surveys, focus groups, interviews, analysis based on leading social indicators, and the exploration of virtual world environments. The center is a member of the National Consortium of Social Science Research Centers and Institutes, the Association of Academic Survey Research Organizations, and the Virtual Worlds Consortium.

The center addresses conflict dynamics by providing a hub for research, conversations on practice, workshops and consultations, and intervention in conflicts. By connecting the research on narrative and conflict to the practice of narrative intervention in conflicts, the center offers academic courses, workshops, and research seminars, which are open to the public, as well as consultations to organizations and agencies.

The center draws on a substantial group of renowned researchers to examine the place of sport in American and global societies. It provides research and consulting services, academic programming, and critical analysis of key issues in sport, leading to grant funding and enhanced research and publishing. Current research topics include race and ethnicity in sport and the history and culture of cycling.

The Institute for Immigration Research's mission is to focus the conversation on immigration among academics, policy-makers and the public, including the business community and media, by producing and disseminating objective, interdisciplinary academic research related to immigrants and immigration to the United States. Research conducted by the IIR will examine the economic impact of all immigrant groups, with particular emphasis on the contributions of immigrant entrepreneurs with a high level of education or skills. The IIR concentrates on economic questions while adding a sociological perspective. The Institute for Immigration Research is a joint venture between George Mason University and The Immigrant Learning Center of Massachusetts.

The center provides services to both the Mason community and the Korean-American community in Northern Virginia by providing opportunities to learn about Korean culture and traditions, including language, history and art. It explores academic and scholarly projects in an effort to globalize Korean cultural tradition, artistic heritage, and spiritual orientation and to promote cross-cultural academic engagement.

The Roy Rosenzweig Center is a leader in the growing fields of digital history and digital humanities, using digital media and computer technology to democratize history. It incorporates multiple voices, reaches out to diverse audiences, and encourages participation in presenting and preserving the past. More than 50 scholars, developers, designers, and researchers work to preserve and present history online, transform scholarship across the humanities, and advance historical education and understanding. And more than a million people rely on its digital tools to teach, learn, and conduct research.